Page 2573 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 2013
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Treasurer yesterday, “It’s only $25 million a year; a small amount.” Well, the small amounts add up. You can put on top of that that we do not know what the cost and the foundation will be of the light rail project, which is $600 million.
The last time we gave Mr Corbell a big project to run, it went from $55 million to about $200 million. And you would remember well, Madam Speaker, the Gungahlin Drive fiasco that Mr Corbell oversaw. Of course Mr Corbell oversaw the prison. Remember the prison that was meant to last for 20 years and which is now full? And of course Mr Corbell was responsible for the debacle that is the building of the ESA headquarters. A great building and a good location; a pity about the cost. This is why these numbers are important—because we have a government that, according to the Auditor-General, simply does not deliver on capital works projects.
Of course we have the tax reform—the tax reform where, apparently, no work has been done. We have it in this budget, and we have it from the Treasurer himself, that yes, they will go up 10 per cent a year, and if you go up 10 per cent a year for 11 years, your rates triple. If we are wrong, table the documents to prove that we are wrong. But in all this time since these reforms were started, we have not seen a single document to disprove what the Canberra Liberals have said. That is why this motion today is very simple in its intent: give us the documents, prove us wrong, and that debate will end.
But you cannot prove us wrong because the documents either prove that we are correct, and this is exactly what will happen, or you have not done the work at all. And that is the hallmark of this government: “We had a bright idea. Let’s just do it.” We heard from Mr Barr in other hearings that there is no price too big for the light rail because it is a good policy idea. There are many components that make policy good, and I would have thought that one of the components that make a policy a good policy is the ability to afford it and deliver it. This government have shown us nothing to say that they can actually deliver this project, let alone afford to pay for this project. Their record on capital works in the last 11 years is simply appalling.
Remember that time in estimates when we asked Mr Corbell to name a single project that he had delivered on time, on budget and on scope? There was a deafening silence, Madam Speaker, and it had to be taken on notice, and then he tabled a list that were mainly projects that I had started when I had been the minister. So thank you for the confirmation that we are able, as the Liberal Party, to deliver capital works on time and on budget, Mr Corbell, because you certainly cannot.
That is why this motion is before the Assembly today. What it is simply saying is the Chief Minister’s own words. She wanted to show the openness of the way we govern by encompassing transparency. Well, here is the test. Here is another little hurdle. You have fallen at every other hurdle. There has not been transparency. There has not been openness. We know that from the litany of secret inquiries on everything from obstetrics to hospital numbers, but we never get to see the final reports. They are all done in house. So let us have some of this openness and let us have some of this transparency.
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